REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
January 30, 2020
FROM: ANDREW HALL, Chief of Police
Police Department
BY: LYDIA CARRASCO, Deputy Police Chief
Police Department
SUBJECT
Title
***RESOLUTION - 6th Amendment to Position Authorization Resolution No. 2019-134,adding 16 permanent, full-time positions to the Fresno Police Department (FPD), as follows: two (2) Background Investigators, four (4) Emergency Services Dispatchers I, two (2) Laborers, three (3) Property and Evidence Technicians, and five (5) Police Support Services Clerks, effective February 1, 2020 (Subject to Mayor’s veto).
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council adopt 6th Amendment to Position Authorization Resolution No. 2019-134, adding 16 permanent, full-time positions to the Fresno Police Department (FPD), as follows: two (2) Background Investigators, four (4) Emergency Services Dispatchers I, two (2) Laborers, three (3) Property and Evidence Technicians, and five (5) Police Support Services Clerks
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In FY 20, FPD had 42 temporary employees with an annual General Fund budget of $968,700. Temporary employment pursuant to Fresno City Charter Section 1000(a)(2) is limited to one year (i.e. 2,080 hours) within any two consecutive fiscal years. By December 31, 2019, approximately 30 temporary employees were eliminated for having met or exceeded the 2,080 hours limit. Currently 12 temporary employees remain. The FPD is requesting 16 permanent full-time positions at an annual cost of $903,800. If the requested positions are approved, the remaining temporary employees will be eliminated as positions are filled or once the 2080 hours limit is met, whichever comes first. The recommended additions to the PAR will eliminate the need to continually hire temporary employees.
BACKGROUND
Two (2) Background Investigator positions for the Family Justice Bureau
FPD is recommending adding two (2) permanent, full-time Background Investigator positions to replace five (5) temporary Background Investigator positions.
The City of Fresno has approximately 2,400 convicted sex offenders and 160 convicted arsonists that the FPD is mandated to register into the California Department of Justice Sex and Arson Registration (CSAR) database. Sex offenders have different classifications that, depending on requirements, have to be registered monthly, annually, or as otherwise determined by law. Each registrant’s case status, address and other necessary information is verified through a variety of background investigation methods, photos are updated, data entries into CSAR are made, and the rules for registrants are read to each offender.
Additionally, these positions will be responsible for transporting and booking sexual assault kits, to include completion of related paperwork. The background of each kit is investigated to facilitate its proper disposition. For example, when the FPD completes a courtesy sexual assault report for another agency the kit needs to be transferred to the agency with jurisdiction over where the sexual assault occurred.
Finally, they will be responsible for processing all U-VISA certification requests made to the FPD. The FPD handles about 350 such requests annually with each one investigated to see if it meets the legal criteria to be signed, denied, or forwarded to another agency with proper jurisdiction.
Four (4) Emergency Services Dispatcher I positions for the Communications Center
FPD is recommending adding four (4) permanent, full-time Emergency Services Dispatcher I positions to replace eight (8) temporary dispatcher positions.
Currently three (3) temporary dispatchers remain. The temporary positions have been critical in the day-to-day operations of the FPD in an already overburdened Communications Center. The elimination of these temporary positions will result in additional mandatory overtime, increased workload for current dispatchers, and significant delays in answering 911 calls and dispatching police and emergency services to the public. Approval of the PAR amendment will provide additional resources to improve the time it takes to respond to emergency calls for service and redirect non-emergency calls for service.
One (1) Laborer position for the Regional Training Center (RTC)
FPD is recommending adding one (1) permanent, full-time Laborer position to be funded by RTC funds to replace one (1) temporary Laborer position and one (1) temporary Rangemaster/Armorer positon.
Essential duties include: assist in general maintenance of the facility, equipment, buildings, and grounds; assist with setting up and taking down displays and props for police practicals/training; empty all refuse bins on the exterior of the facility; assist and operate a variety of equipment including pressure washers, light lawn and landscape equipment; clean, fuel, and service such equipment; mow, fertilize, plant and prune shrubs, repair sprinklers; perform a variety of unskilled and semi-skilled duties involving light or heavy manual labor; operate a variety of hand tools; perform other duties as needed.
One (1) Laborer position for the Mounted Unit and K-9 Unit
FPD is recommending adding one (1) permanent, full-time Laborer position to replace one (1) temporary Law Enforcement Instructor position.
This job is an important function for the ongoing maintenance at the K-9 / Mounted Unit facility and the care and feeding of the four horses. The facility sits on 22 acres and FPD is responsible for 10 acres.
Essential duties include: working around horses and police K-9s; maintain the area around half of the facility for trash, leaves and debris; maintain and manage weeds around the facility, riding areas, and around buildings; tree trimming of more than 40 mature trees around the grounds and mowing grass; general janitorial duties covering two buildings and three bathrooms including over 20 trash cans inside and out; tractor duties, maintaining the training areas for the horses, refilling the stalls with sand or dirt annually, grading around the facility due to natural erosion; feeding the horses twice a day, seven days a week including holidays; moving hay bales and general water; regular cleaning of the four stalls and removal of animal debris and waste; general cleaning of a 12 stall barn requiring daily attention due to ingress and egress of animals; assist with general cleaning of two trucks and two 30 foot horse trailers; perform other duties as needed.
Three (3) Property and Evidence Technician positions for the Street Violence Bureau (SVB)
FPD is recommending adding three (3) permanent, full-time Property and Evidence Technician positions to replace three (3) temporary Staff Assistant positions and one (1) temporary Rangemaster/Armorer position.
One position will be to assist in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) process of test firing recovered firearms, to allow these expended casings being put into the NIBIN database. FPD recovers between 65 - 75 handguns & long guns each month. Currently there is one sergeant and one detective who are responsible for the large amount of recovered weapons that need to be test-fired in addition to working their normal assignments in SVB. This has created a back log at times of 20 - 30 firearms and rifles needing to be test fired for entry into NIBIN. This is important to keep up with the federal mandates by ATF to get the casings of recovered firearms entered into NIBIN in a timely manner. This position will also be responsible for documenting follow up reports regarding the test firing of these weapons. They will also keep an updated log for reference by SVB detectives and other investigators throughout the FPD, to utilize in forwarding investigators cases involving these test fired weapons.
One position will be for the evaluation and disposition of the large amount of evidence recovered by the Crime Scene Investigation Section, officers and detectives related to SVB investigations. These crimes include homicides, suspicious deaths, shootings, stabbings, robberies (to include person, commercial, home invasions and carjacking), weapons related offenses and other miscellaneous felony cases. Currently there are over 20,000 pieces of evidence related to crimes in the SVB. The position will have to work with the FPD’s Prosecution Liaison Office and the District Attorney’s Office to confirm the status of criminal cases to allow for the proper disposition of recovered evidence.
One position will be for the evaluation and disposition of evidence vehicles recovered and stored by our agency related to criminal investigations. FPD recovers approximately 25 - 30 evidence vehicles a month, with approximately 240 evidence vehicles in storage at any given time. Currently one homicide sergeant is responsible for overseeing this task. This position would allow the duties to be performed five days a week by a full-time position and would allow better communication with all investigative units in getting vehicles released from storage, to prevent further storage costs to the FPD.
Five (5) Police Support Services Clerks for the Records Bureau
FPD is recommending adding five (5) Police Support Services Clerks (Records Clerks) due to the shortage of personnel.
In 2008, the Records Bureau had 85 employees and six (6) supervisors on three (3) shifts. FPD eliminated over 200 non-sworn positions as a result of the 2009 recession. Today there are 35 employees and two (2) supervisors on two (2) shifts. Demands for services from our Records Bureau have been steadily increasing since 2008 and demand continues to rise.
The Records Bureau staffing shortages have made it difficult to meet State of California mandated functions such as records sealing, record purging and providing a response to Public Records Act submissions within the mandated 10 to 14 day range. The FPD is mandated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide a mandatory 10 minute response to a DOJ hit confirmation.
FPD recently switched over to a new RMS software system, which has a different workflow for DOJ statistical reporting. Additional Police Support Services Clerks will be needed to compensate for the additional processes and this will be critical to reporting statistics to DOJ on assigned deadlines.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference is not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT
The FPD is requesting 16 permanent full-time positions at an annual cost of approximately $903,800. FY 20 General Fund budget includes 20.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) temporary positions and plan to eliminate 19.5 FTEs to provide approximately $906,800 of annual savings to fund permanent replacement positions. Due to the City’s recruitment process and FPD background investigation requirements, there is no anticipation the positions will be filled prior to June 2020. Funding for temporary employees has been budgeted for many consecutive years and the ongoing savings will offset the cost of these new positions in future budgets; however, future step increases will impact the General Fund approximately 5% percent or $45,000 per year.
Attachment:
6th Amendment to the Position Authority Resolution No. 2019-134